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Pharma Companies in the Carolinas Are Hiring for Hundreds of Positions

Published: Dec 21, 2018
By Alex Keown

After enduring a deluge from multiple hurricanes earlier this year, the Carolinas are about to be flooded with something else far more preferable – jobs.

Pharma companies based in both North and South Carolina are hiring for hundreds of positions, according to reports.

In Raleigh, N.C., RedHill Biopharma is expecting to hire some additional employees following a $25 million underwritten offer in August and a $20 million underwritten public offering earlier this month. Speaking to WRAL TechWire, RedHill Chief Executive Officer Dror Ben-Asher noted that the funding will be used to support the company’s commercial capabilities. With the anticipation of potential regulatory approval of Talicia, a therapeutic for the gastrointestinal disorder known as H. pylori infection, the company could begin to hire a team focused on commercialization, TechWire reported.

Earlier this month RedHill posted positive top-line results from the ERADICATE Hp2 study of Talicia, an all-in-one oral capsule combination of two antibiotics, rifabutin and amoxicillin, and a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), omeprazole. TechWire noted that Talicia has been fast-tracked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under a Priority Review, which means approval could come in the first half of 2019.

At this point, RedHill did not disclose to TechWire how many positions it could begin to hire for, but jobs will be needed should Talicia be approved.

In the western part of North Carolina, 137 jobs are expected to open up to support a new manufacturing facility set to open in Catawba County. The Hickory Record reported that radiopharmaceutical manufacturer Isotopen Technologien München AG will build a manufacturing plant for radiopharmaceutical products. That $17 million facility will support 137 jobs when it is completed over the course of the next five years. Average salaries will exceed the county average of $41,531, the Record said. This will be Isotopen Technologien München AG’s first North American facility.

Not to be outdone, South Carolina will also see some new jobs thanks to an expansion expected at a Charles River Laboratories facility in Charleston. The Charleston Post and Courier reported that Charles River Labs will expand its county operations with a $10.9 million investment. The expansion is expected to add 160 jobs to the facility, the Post and Courier said.

Charleston’s ABC affiliate WVIC reported that hiring for those open positions has already begun. Several positions for the Charleston location have already been posted on the company’s online jobs portal, including customer service representatives and IT business analysts.